Digital Public Interactive Screen and the house in a gynormous Ostrich Egg

April 2003 AR - My Personal Commentaries on two articles from that issue.

The articles which I found most interesting in this issue are: "Urban interaction: these ingenious electronic screens provide new forms of interactive thrills for Tokyo's jaded urbanites." and "Eastern pleasure: in Tokyo, a shimmering white dwelling on the edge of the city's entertainment district appears to be an alien, elegant body dropped into a mire of mess and vice. (Art House)."

The first article talks about an digital interface design which is to be installed in public spaces and enables people to play games through sensors and check stock market. This enables a cross over and mingling of cultures, a new community forged by a technological intervention which could create interesting situations and informal ephemeral "institutions". I find it fascinating that casual networks and informal institutions formed in public spaces allow formal boundaries between different societies to be broken, such as business men and a jeans crowd as mentioned below.

"When you've checked your investments, it's time to play. Infrared sensors behind the glass detect your presence and a menu scrolls down the screen. You touch one of four icons to play a digital harp, set shadows racing across the screen, link lines with another player to create a giant cat's cradle, or play volleyball. What makes this display so compelling is its size and sophistication, attracting the suits as well as the jeans crowd. Businessmen line up with little kids to play on the touch-sensitive screens. Even a technophobe like me found it irresistible, and an attendant was happy to demonstrate the pattern-making to a visitor in a wheelchair. At one end of the room are five high-tech armchairs you can set to knead your back or give a shiatsushiatsu /shi·at·su/ (she-ot´soo) [Japanese] a Japanese form of acupressure, in which pressure is applied using the thumb, elbow, or knee, perpendicularly to the skin at acupoints, combined with passive stretching and rotation of the joints.
shi·at·su ..... Click the link for more information. massage while you watch Bloomberg Television (a cable channel) on swivelling monitors. Truly urban entertainment."

I was drawn by the second article because of the comical and unusual appearance of the house which contains two appartments. "Eastern pleasure: in Tokyo, a shimmering white dwelling on the edge of the city's entertainment district appears to be an alien, elegant body dropped into a mire of mess and vice. (Art House)."

From first impression it appears like a giant organic sculpture or a gynormous ostriche's egg that has randomnly landed in a Toykyo residential area. The division between art and architecture has always been an interesting debate. Personally I agree with artists such as Donald Judd who clearly see art and architecture as two seperate entities.The large shell or spaceship is designed in a very sterile white sci-fi finish that recalls the 1960s soft form designs and greatly contrasts the surrounding context. I cannot decide whether I like it, I guess I would have to visit the building in real life. If the intention of the architect was to create some beautiful intimate spaces with a unique character, could he/she have pushed that much further? The writer of the article describes the building as 'impermeable'. Privacy is one of the criteria householders enjoy in a home, however is creating such a sealed environment healthy? The top floor/roof contains a light well, illuminating a spiral staircase that runs down the building but also serves as a roof terrace. I think its growing on me. It's querky and sets a different tone to the regular repetitive facades of the surrounding buildings. It creates an instability and playfulness. The curvy form and white minimalist aesthetic recalls the work of Ushida Finlay, a partnership of architects who have designed several houses in Japan, including The Soft and Hairy House.The Images depicted in the article are shot from the top, shots which show off the curvy language, however I wonder if at ground level passerby's would find the exterior as playful. I think the white aesthetic is a bit too much and maybe using materials which blend in more with the vernacular architectural language of concrete would have been more suitable.

MSB.